Moscow on ‘spy scandal’: No grounds for arrest, US stoking ‘anti-Russian feelings’

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has demanded the immediate release of Evgeny Buryakov, the Russian bank employee arrested for espionage in New York on Monday, and says the accusations against him and two of his fellow countrymen are “groundless.”

“We are getting the impression that the US is resorting to
its favored tactic of creating a spy scandal. Relations between
Russia and a hostile Washington have long been suffering a
difficult period. Obviously thinking, the worse it is, the
better, the US has launched another wave in its anti-Russian
campaign,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich
said in Moscow.

39-year-old Buryakov, who worked for the New York office of
Russia’s Vnesheconombank (VEB), faces up to five years in jail
for his part in “a conspiracy to act in the United States as
an agency of a foreign government without first notifying the
Attorney General.”

“We demand a halt to the string of provocations against
Russian officials, orchestrated by the US secret services. We
also request immediate consular access to Buryakov, as well as
meticulous respect for his rights as a Russian citizen, and his
release,” Lukashevich said.

Working outside any official diplomatic capacity – under
“non-official cover” – Buryakov was labeled an
“extremely valuable intelligence asset” in FBI statements
released this week, following an investigation that reportedly
began back in 2010.

The two officials who allegedly assisted him were Igor Sporyshev,
a government trade representative, and Victor Podobnyy, who
served as one of Russia’s attaches to the UN. Both face charges
of up to 10 years, but have diplomatic immunity and have left
the country anyway.

“No evidence has been presented that would back up these
accusations,” Lukashevich said.

FBI documents detail allegedly tapped conversations between the
three. In one, Podobnyy and Sporyshev supposedly complain that
their lifestyle does not match up to depictions of James Bond. In
another, they reportedly discuss best strategies for recruiting
college students to work for the SVR, Russia’s foreign
intelligence service.

One of the agents in alleged Russian spy ring expressed
surprise that the work wasn’t like a James Bond movie pic.twitter.com/ZkWTIEkduy

In 2014, FBI also set up a meeting with a fake investor
interested in opening a casino in Russia. During the interview
with Buryakov, he "demonstrated his strong desire to obtain
information about subjects far outside the scope of his work as a
bank employee."

Buryakov’s lawyer has sought bail for him, while the other two
men, presumably currently in Russia, have not commented on the
charges.

The last comparable operation against purported Russian spies in
the US took place in 2010, in which Anna Chapman and nine other
“sleeper agents” were fingered by the FBI. Coincidentally, the
records of the latest bust show that Sporyshev commented that the
expelled agents from 2010 “weren’t doing s**t” at the
time of their arrests.